Page 10 - The Ashley Book of Knots

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CHAPTER 1: ON KNOTS - - .. ,,-- - -
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Of Knots, it is necessary that I speak . .. - .

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A NAVAL REPOSITORY, 1762 -

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The sailor, from the very nature of his craft, has a dependence , .

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u on rope and a consequent familiarity with knots that is demanded - -

o no other workman. It follows that most important knots owe both

their origin and their names to the requirements of a ship at sea. So

diverse are these requirements that the number of knots devised by

the sailor is probably ten times greater than the sum of all other

handicrafts combined. Nor is this surprising if we consider that on a

full-rigged ship, in everyday use, are several miles of rigging, and

an able seaman, of necessity, is acquainted with every inch of this

extent.

Knotting has been an important adjunct to the everyday life of all

people from the earliest days of which we have knowledge. There are F - F

still primitive races who fasten their huts, traps, canoes, and harness

with knotted thongs and withes. But civilized man is no less de-

endent on knots than his more backward brothers, even though

Rots today are much less in evidence in sophisticated surroundings.

Long ago man recognized the decorative possibilities of knots, and I .. · ,

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"fancy knotting" is one of the oldest and most widely distributed of c:: < ...... >

the folk arts. But it remained for the sailor to seize upon this art and - -

to develop it into something that is peculiarly his own.

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